Our Words Our City: A night of inspiration at Busboys and Poets

Written by Jake Lloyd
Communications Manager

Poetry and creative expression bring people together.

This was most evident, most clear, and most powerfully displayed Tuesday night at Busboys and Poets in downtown Washington, DC.

Those entering the popular DC restaurant were greeted with a sign on the door: "Our Words Our City SOLD OUT." The back room was packed with people by 6:15pm, half an hour before the show. DC SCORES donors, volunteers, staff, board of directors, kids' parents, teachers and others chatted while waiting.

And then around 6:45pm, the lights dimmed and focused on 13 DC children sitting in a semicircle on the small stage. There was Zakayah A., age 8, one of the many stars from November's Poetry Slam! who also performed on NBC Washington in December. Sitting to her left was A'dora W., age 18, who last performed on a DC SCORES stage seven years prior.

To Zakayah's right and Adora's left sat poet-athletes current and past, spanning that 10-year age range. Their interactions all night made them out to be friends who do this poetry thing together every day. And during the following hour, the kids provided one dose after another of inspiration for an audience chock full of jaws dropped.

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Anyone who stepped out of the room at any time during the hour show missed out.There were no drop-offs in performance level. The show began with emcee Charity Blackwell passing a pad of paper to the nearest audience member with instructions -- write a line then pass it on. At the conclusion of the performances, Charity would read the words of every spectator in the room. Every voice matters.

Next, Karen Dale of AmeriHealth Caritas District of Columbia, the event sponsor, spoke about the power of poetry and set the stage for special guest and DC SCORES champion Councilmember David Grosso to share his own poem. From there, the kids took over.

The performances -- a few current poet-athletes followed by an alumnus, repeated -- demonstrated the evolution of a kid in our self-expression program. The current participants' poems were a little lighter while the alumni delved deep into myriad issues plaguing their communities today. But don't call them cynical. Every poem rung of hope, of creating change and making the world a better place.

The packed-house crowd erupted after every performance. Two guest poets  -- specialists, who help DC SCORES kids hone their performance techniques -- chimed in with their own works, and emcee Charity did the same. All the while, whoever wasn't performing at a given time watched their peer with fixated eyes.

To say the older kids inspired the younger would be an understatement. They were practically best friends by the end of the night.

“I got to get where I’m going, no time to fall below”
“No time for despair, I can only grow/ I can make it, it’s all I’ve ever known”
“I’ve got ideas, and courage, and life”

-- Myiah S., 18

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"Myself." 

That's how Jalia C., 10, of Aiton Elementary School answered the question, "What do you want to be when you grow up?"

It couldn't have been more befitting of her and the 12 other poets on stage Tuesday night -- kids comfortable in their skin, in their circumstances, in what they do on a daily basis. DC SCORES strives to empower kids to embrace themselves, to be confident in their own voices, and to take pride in their uniqueness. 

Our Words Our City was an impeccable demonstration. 

Xavier C., 13, knows he has a gift for poetry, influenced by his professional poet father, and he doesn't shy away from the places he can go with spoken word. The former DC SCORES Shine Award winner who went to New York City for the America SCORES National Poetry SLAM! and performed live on MSNBC's "The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell," wowed audience members with the sophistication and delivery of his new alphabet poem. 

Hope came from hip hop and even that got tainted
to learn, to live, to liberate themselves in America//where murder, mayhem, and the N word
never, never, never seem to cease
obvious cheating politicians pushing poor folk to a non-existence
Visual violence virtually violating the minds of our young
I wish I was an X-ray to examine America’s heart, and see if it really has a spirit

-- Xavier C., 13

Natalia L., 10, of Brightwood Education Campus, showcased her passion for animals with a repeat of the poem that won her the Shine Award and a teary hug from D.C. United coach Ben Olsen in November.

Then I got it,
What if I was an explorer,
What if I found a place that no one from our people had ever discovered,
What if in that place kids can run freely,
Without having to worry about the dangers in the world,
What if in this world peace there was the number one law,
And no one dared to break it,
I thought about it again,

Then it hit me,
What if there was no such thing as animal extinction,
And if there was, it wasn’t caused by humans,

Natalia L., 10

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From Zakayah to Myia, from Xavier to Natalia, and every other child, Tuesday's first-ever Our Words Our City left every audience member feeling better about the world they share.

Because as Zakayah said with her poem, these powerful, smart, passionate voices...

Are. The. Future.

View photos from Our Words Our City on Flickr.

Teamwork on full display during Westside DC SCORES Poetry Slam!

KIPP WILL won the Golden Mic trophy in its first Poetry Slam!.

As the winners of Wednesday night's Westside DC SCORES Poetry Slam! were announced, emcee Charity Blackwell repeatedly asked for just team captains and coaches of schools to come to the stage and receive their trophies.

Yet team after team brought dozens of kids, all running down the aisles and up onto the stage to receive the hardware from special guests Briana Scurry and Ben Olsen.

At the culminating event of the fall DC SCORES season, it was clearer than ever how strong and together the 20 schools' teams of poet-athletes are. Kids didn't want to leave their peers behind. Whether winning the Spirit Award or first place, they made sure to celebrate together.

And what a celebration the Poetry Slam! was. In front of a standing-room-only audience inside Columbia Heights Education Campus' auditorium, one school after another demonstrated the fruits of 12 weeks of writing labor.

Great lines ranged from issue-driven ("We are not criminals and our schools are secure enough without them." — H.D. Cooke) to commanding ("Quit, we don't quit. Quit. Never heard of it." — Garrison) to funny ("So lock your door; slam, click, ahhhhhhh," repeated Raymond's kids with faces painted to look like zombies).

All lines were accompanied by movements, hand gestures and props. Whether it was a small team on stage or Lincoln Middle School's team of close to 40, every kid knew where to be throughout the night.

It was the result of a 12-week curriculum that began in September with kids learning the basic structure of a poem, was followed by many writing sessions, and concluded with performance-technique lessons and, of course, plenty of practice.

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LaSalle Backus EC was one of three schools that performed at the Poetry Slam! for the first time.

The winning schools spanned the spectrum of DC SCORES' 20-year history and 17 years of hosting now DC's largest youth Poetry Slam!.

There was flagship school Marie Reed, decked out in their customary orange soccer uniforms, putting together a strong performance about being yourself and not wavering to win the elementary school Golden Mic trophy.

The Reed kids concluded their performance by taking up every square foot of the stage and holding up about 20 signs representing the countries the students' families are from. "So many cultures in one place can surely brighten your day," everyone said in unison.

And then there was KIPP WILL, a school that had DC SCORES writing for the first time this fall but looked far from nervous under the bright lights. KIPP's performance about love and freedom — highlighted by Jordan S.' poignant poem about learning from his grandmother — won them the middle school Golden Mic trophy.

Marie Reed won the Golden Mic trophy in its 17th Poetry Slam!.

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Councilmember David Grosso got the night started!

After emcees Charity and Cortney Hicks kicked off the Slam!, special guest Councilmember David Grosso took the stage and read a poem by Langston Hughes. An innovator like Hughes would've been proud of the creativity and spoken word that captivated the capacity audience for three hours Wednesday night.

As we have documented with our blog series on Brightwood Education Campus, there are many steps taken to get to this point. So it was no surprise that when kids ran up the aisles to receive those gleaming trophies from Scurry (the World Cup-winning and Olympic-gold earning goalkeeper) and Olsen (who was named Major League Soccer's coach of the year Wednesday), emotions were high.

When Jency, a girl from Barnard Elementary School, won the Shine Award for best individual performance, she was overcome by the moment and cried tears of joy as Olsen gave her a big hug. A minute later, there were more tears as Brightwood received the second-place award. 

And then the entire Marie Reed team took the stage, raised up the large and heavy Golden Mic trophy, and capped off a night that demonstrated the power of teamwork — not just on a soccer field, but on stage, too.

Below is the full list of winners from the first night of the 17th Annual DC SCORES Poetry Slam!. 

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Elementary Schools 
1st place — Marie Reed Elementary School
2nd place — Brightwood Education Campus
3rd place — Seaton Elementary
School Spirit Award — Truesdell Education Campus
Shine Award — Jency. M, Barnard

Middle Schools 
1st place — KIPP WILL
2nd place — Lincoln Middle School
3rd place — Truesdell Education Campus
Spirit Award — Chavez Prep
Shine Award — Madelin G., Lincoln

Over 1,500 people enjoy action-packed day at 18th DC SCORES Jamboree! celebration

The 18th Annual DC SCORES Jamboree! was epitomized by its moments.

Perhaps none better defined the June 1 celebration of the spring season than the one in the aftermath of the City Cup championship soccer games that kicked off the event. 

Before the Burrville Elementary School girls team received the trophy for winning a seventh consecutive title, a girl clad in her red DC SCORES uniform stood up and -- in front of DC Councilmembers Tommy Wells and David Grosso -- said that all participants from the four teams that played in the games were winners. She then walked over to the seated Marie Reed Elementary girls and the Wheatley Education Campus boys, giving out high fives.

Thus began a day that involved winning and trophies, but left all participants smiling -- and tired -- after several hours of soccer games, facepainting and much more.

The Jamboree! was, by far, the largest-scale DC SCORES event in the organization's 19-year history. Over 1,450 youth representing 45 schools joined hundreds of parents, dozens of volunteers, and a handful of awesome program partners at Anacostia Park. 

To give an idea of just how large the event was, 128 elementary and middle school soccer games were played on 14 fields. And that was just the soccer.

There were also:

• Volunteers from DC SCORES partner Sephora running a professional facepainting booth throughout the day.

• Longtime partner Penya Barcelonista running a soccer shooting station where kids from each school split into three teams and tested out their accuracy. The prize for those most on-target? Awesome Penya scarves!

• Hundreds DC SCORES parents watching their kids play soccer, then filling out surveys about the program and receiving water bottles and bags from Modell's Sporting Goods in return. Many parents don't get to see their children in action during the season, making Saturday a great opportunity to finally watch them proudly wear their school uniforms.
  

• The service-learning display and contest. Saturday marked the culmination of a season not just defined by soccer, but by every DC SCORES school creating and implementing a project to better their school or surrounding community. Each school brought a poster board visually documenting their project, and staff members voted these the top three projects:

• Kelly Miller Middle School won Most Creative Project for visiting a retirement home and teaching the elderly how to use technology (blog).

• Bancroft Elementary School won Project with the Greatest Impact for raising over $1,000 for homeless animals. 

• Seaton Elementary School won Best Board Design for not only creating a beautiful array of pictures from their school garden, but bringing fresh radishes, chard and other vegetables to display!

• Members from the U.S. Soccer Athlete Council coming out on the 100th anniversary of soccer in the United States to run soccer relay races and drills with kids. Former U.S. Women's National Team members including Angela Hucles, Heather Mitts and others had a great time teaching DC SCORES students skills and playing games with them.

• Revolution Foods, the event's lunch provider, teaming up with DC Hunger Solutions to lead a station where students created nutritious snacks -- such as a yogurt parfait with peaches and berries -- to keep them feeling good during the long, hot day of soccer.

• DC SCORES partner The Century Council giving away to both kids and parents cool sunglasses, T-shirts, and bilingual literature about the dangers of underage drinking and drinking while driving. 

• And, of course, DJ RBI spinning tunes to help keep everyone energized on a blazing-hot day under the sun, and Sport and Spine Rehab expert trainers available for anyone who needed medical attention.

Did I mention the 128 soccer games? 

They began with the City Cup championship games at 8:15 a.m. The Burrville Eagles girls team -- a DC SCORES dynasty -- listened to the constant urgings of "PASS! PASS!" from their coach Daryl Forte and used teamwork to defeat Reed in the girls game. In the boys game, Reed -- DC SCORES' flagship school where the program began in 1994 -- defeated first-time championship game participant Wheatley.

All four teams received trophies from Executive Director Amy Nakamoto, and special guests Wells and Grosso hung medals around the students' necks. 

The championship games complete, the Jamboree! kicked off for everyone -- with seven elementary school games and seven middle schools games played simultaneously for over 5 hours. Teams were guaranteed three games, and some played as many as seven. The games were all refereed by DC SCORES volunteers, who could be spotted in their neon yellow T-shirts all over the park grounds throughout the entire event.

After losing two of their first three games, the MacFarland boys -- playing as a DC SCORES team for the final time -- rallied to win two consecutive games. Shaw Middle School at Garnet-Patterson, which is also closing at the end of the school year, had a magical four-game streak that ended just short of the boys championship, won for a third straight time by Paul Public Charter School.

On the middle school girls side, Capital City Public Charter School participants thought their day was over after a loss and began walking to the parking lot. But it wasn't. The tournament's double-elimination format gave them a chance to keep playing, and they did just that all the way to the championship to cap off the school's first year as a DC SCORES program participant. 

By 3pm, the music died down, the last games were whistled complete, the final trophies were rewarded, and kids from 45 schools boarded buses content and exhausted from a day that perfectly encapsulated everything the DC SCORES spring season is about and included many of the people, partners and volunteers who make it all possible.

Read a chronological recap of the day on Twitter by visiting the #Jamboree13 hashtag

Councilmembers Tommy Wells and David Grosso to kick off 18th Annual DC SCORES Jamboree!

Contact: Jake Lloyd 202-393-6999 ext 313 

Cell: 919.451.3718 

jlloyd@americascores.org 

*** MEDIA ADVISORY *** 

 DC Councilmembers to present trophies at DC SCORES’ 18th Annual Jamboree! celebration 

Councilmembers Tommy Wells and David Grosso will reward City Cup elementary school soccer champions at largest DC after-school program’s event 

WHAT: On June 1, over 1,450 District of Columbia public elementary and middle school students will celebrate the end of the DC SCORES spring season at Anacostia Park during the 18th Annual Jamboree!. The event will kick off with the elementary school City Cup championship games, after which DC Councilmembers Tommy Wells and David Grosso will present trophies to all the teams. The special guests will then help gather the 42 participating school teams together and begin a day full of soccer games, facepainting, poetry readings, and other activities. The students represent 42 DC public and public charter schools in all eight wards of the District and are part of the year-round, largest after-school program in the city. The Jamboree! is also attended by hundreds of parents, community members and partners of the nonprofit organization. 

WHEN: Saturday, June 1 9AM – 2:30PM 
WHERE: Anacostia Park (driving and metro directions) 

DETAILS: The DC SCORES Jamboree! is highlighted by round-robin soccer tournaments for 42 elementary and middle school teams — both boys and girls. The action-packed day also features several activity booths led by DC SCORES partners such as Starbucks, TheCentury Council, and Penya Barcelonista. There are also giveaways for both students and parents and autograph signings with professional soccer players. 

DC SCORES builds teams through after-school programs for over 1,450 low-income DC youth at 42 schools by instilling self-expression, physical fitness, and a sense of community. 

DC SCORES is an affiliate and flagship of America SCORES, the nation’s largest inner-city soccer and literacy program. For more information, please visit www.DCSCORES.org 

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